TOK - Essay: Mathematics

"...how I see the challenges facing the discipline as someone who has in the past led a mathematics department but who now is in a more senior university leadership role."

Despite the omnipresence of mathematics in our daily lives, in our phones, credit cards, cars etc., there may not be enough mathematicians to solve the complex challenges we face, from climate change to pandemics, a new UNESCO study finds.

30 minute video / talk with Prof. Yang-Hui He. Transcript available.

As one might expect, there is a surprisingly rich association between mathematics and many of the arts like music, dance, painting, architecture, and sculpture.

It is common to hear today, in the era of big data and STEM — science, technology, engineering and mathematics — that liberal arts degrees are, well, relatively worthless. What is someone with a degree in English literature going to do with it, besides teach?